As was the case in Algeria, in Syria it's all about oil -- Robert Fisk in The Independent

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http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-western-agreement-could-leave-syria-in-assads-hands-for-two-more-years-7897087.html

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 * The
Independent
29 June 2012 *
 *Western agreement 'could leave Syria in Assad's hands for two more years'*

*Special Report: Need for oil routes buys time, claims key Damascus figure*

* Robert Fisk*

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria may last far longer than his opponents
believe – and with the tacit acceptance of Western leaders anxious to
secure new oil routes to Europe via Syria before the fall of the regime.
According to a source intimately involved in the possible transition from
Baath party power, the Americans, Russians and Europeans are also putting
together an agreement that would permit Assad to remain leader of Syria for
at least another two years in return for political concessions to Iran and
Saudi Arabia in both Lebanon and Iraq.

For its part, Russia would be assured of its continued military base at
Tartous in Syria and a relationship with whatever government in Damascus
eventually emerges with the support of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Russia’s
recent concession – that Assad may not be essential in any future Syrian
power structure – is part of a new understanding in the West which may
accept Assad’s presidency in return for an agreement that prevents a
further decline into civil war.